WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE: Postcard, survey, District 1 Community Network briefing

With 9 days to go till SDOT plans to reopen the West Seattle Bridge, right here’s the newest.

POSTCARD: In case you nonetheless harbored any doubts in regards to the September 18th reopening promise, take into account this postcard that simply arrived in our USPS mail, declaring “The Bridge Is Again” on that date, in eight languages.

SURVEY: In case you don’t do QR codes, the survey the postcard factors to is right here. It’s formally labeled a “Reconnect West Seattle followup survey,” asking the way you’ve been getting round these previous two and a half years because the excessive bridge closed.

DISTRICT 1 COMMUNITY NETWORK BRIEFING: The restore work is sort of over, however SDOT nonetheless has loads to do in our space earlier than and after the bridge reopens. That’s what the District 1 Group Community heard from bridge-program director Heather Marx on Wednesday evening. First she reaffirmed the reopening date after which went by the listing of what’s taking place now:

And right here’s what’s taking place subsequent – together with, as we reported earlier this week, the “load testing” beginning Tuesday:

Marx confused that bridge monitoring that’s already being accomplished has left them assured of no surprises when the formal load testing is finished. Meantime, as previewed in our site visitors roundup this morning, plenty of preparatory work on routes resulting in the bridge is deliberate for this weekend.

As soon as the excessive bridge reopens, the low bridge work – accomplished by the identical contractor, Kraemer North America – will intensify. Marx stated among the latest issues – the low bridge getting caught open – will likely be addressed by pump replacements scheduled in October.

And Marx reiterated that the second the excessive bridge is open, the low bridge goes again to being open to all 24/7.

Along with low-bridge work, SDOT has another remaining West Seattle tasks after the excessive bridge reopens – these have all been reported earlier than, so this was a recap:

A couple of controversial merchandise on that listing, the West Marginal Method protected bike lane, Marx stated they nonetheless plan to “acquire extra knowledge” alongside the route after the excessive bridge reopens, notably site visitors from/to Terminal 5 and companies on the east aspect of the road.

She additionally famous that new SDOT director Greg Spotts (interim, pending affirmation vote) had toured the West Seattle bridges earlier and shared images on Twitter. (This one’s from contained in the excessive bridge.)

In Q&A with D1CN attendees, Marx was requested once more about SDOT’s determination to not permit a community-planned occasion on the bridge (a run/stroll/trip was being mentioned earlier within the yr). She stated that “the very, very sturdy response we bought was ‘by no means thoughts the celebration, simply open the bridge’.” She stated SDOT is aware of the truth that this isn’t an event to have fun – “the biggest asset in SDOT’s total system failed and (by reopening it) we’re simply getting folks again to their regular lives.”